Furious Caller Labels Chuka Umunna's Change UK "Narcissistic Blairites"
21 May 2019, 10:13 | Updated: 21 May 2019, 15:43
Chuka Umunna was left chuckling as a furious LBC caller labelled him and his Change UK colleagues "Blairite, self-interested narcissists and sociopaths".
The Change UK spokesperson was in the LBC studio to answer questions from listeners just two days before the European Elections.
John from Kettering was the first caller and he did not mince his words.
He said: "Gavin Esler, member of Change UK, was on this station yesterday and he was asked by a caller what his party's policies are. To quote, he said we need to come together to work as one to solve our problems.
"It basically meant 'Nothing'. It was a typical politician's answer. Vague, meaningless and lacking any conviction.
"Chuka, I thought you were supposed to be different. Be honest, there's nothing different about this party. You are Blairite, you've got no concrete principles. You're filled with self-interest, narcissists and sociopaths, seeking power for the sake of power."
Mr Umunna responded: "Well John's obviously in love with Change UK!
"First of all, you can call us narcissists, egotists, whatever you want. But you don't leave the two established parties with a view to self-aggrandisement and some wonderful political career. Traditionally, it's always been a very risky thing.
"On the policies front, Gavin's phrase is very different to the xenophobic, nationalistic, divisive way of doing things which seeks to answer the problems that globalisation poses by seeking to ask who to blame rather than how we solve this issue together.
"For this election, we have published a Charter for Remain and there are five key points to it.
"To remain in the European Union, to tackle issues with climate change, to make sure we protect and safeguard our NHS and continue to be part of the biggest Single Market in the world.
"To say we're policy-light when we've got a Charter for Remain and we've set out all our values in detail is wrong. But clearly John is not a fan of ours, he's not going to be voting for us."
